but they hate me
by insect
Summary: rinlen with lightly suggested lenku. basically the cliche childhood-friends-to-lovers trope but with humor.


hi i'm back again with another rinlen fic that no one asked for!

this took a lil while but is still unedited and kind of a draft ha

show me some love pls :)

anyways

enjoy :)

 _prologue (?)_

Rin grimaced as she compared her score with Len's through their digital gradebook.

"You're an ugly fucker, Len Kagamine."

At that, Rin's annoyed scowl had broken and she was cautiously looking over her shoulder and at the door behind her, and Len smirked at her paranoia.

"I'm ugly."

The scowl returned. Shame.

"Ugly and worthless and worth less than Jason's math grade."

Len ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm ugly and worthless and worth less than Jason's math grade" he said, his lip twitching, "Because I scored a higher grade on the math final than you did?"

"Fuck. You."

This time, she didn't check the door.

"Nice to know that you think of me that way. I mean, I don't _blame_ you, though."

He winked, and Rin choked on her soda.

"Stop. Just—stop. I don't even know why I'm wasting my lunch time with _you_."

Len started to laugh.

"You don't really have much of a choice. Unless you want to play 'fashion store' with Neru, I'm your only form of entertainment."

"I'd pick Neru's Natural Garments over your company any day."

And with that, Rin stormed out of the room, slamming the chair into the table and her face pink.

"By the way," he called out, "None of the adults are home."

"I _know_!"

She didn't know. Len could tell.

…

"D'you think that your parents are gonna make you audition for a grad performance?"

"Graduation performance," Rin said dully, shaking her head as Miku pulled out another dress, "Probably. Are yours?"

"They've already made me start practicing a song. I think my vocal chords are broken now."

"I mean, you're still talking—"

"No. Also—this dress is the cutest," Miku said, already trying to put it onto Rin, who stepped away.

"I don't see the point in getting all dressed up just for dinner."

"Len's gonna be there."

"He has a girlfriend."

"So? You've basically been head-over-heels for him since third grade. And, after seeing you tonight, he's going to dump her, like, right away."

"We're going to _P.F. Chang's_. There's no need for me to wear a dress. And I _don't_ like him."

"C'mon! It's a casual dress. Plus, it's cute," she pleaded.

"And don't deny that you like him. He _is_ cute."

Rin rolled her eyes. She couldn't deny that, not really, but that didn't mean that she would openly admit it.

…

Len was struggling to keep his eyes on his plate. Or his girlfriend. Or his phone. Or, really, anything that wasn't the person sitting across from him. It wasn't his fault, really, because usually he was mostly able to restrain himself from doing so, but _Rin's neckline was kind of low, okay?_

It wasn't his fault. Seriously.

"You're staRing, Len," Kaito murmured in his ear, and Len glared at him.

"I was _not_."

He adjusted the collar of his shirt and smiled.

"Okay, okay."

Len took a sip of his dRink, making sure not to look anywhere near where Rin was sitting, and then cRinged when his eardrum was nearly broken by a shrill giggle next to him. Len peered at the girl beside him without turning his head and started to scroll through his phone.

"You're such a dork," Gumi teased, nose scrunching up and green bangs swaying across her forehead. She bopped his nose, and Len gave her a smile faker than the Kardashians while trying his hardest not to look ticked. Gumi was pretty, he would give her that, and her personality, while being far from real, was decent enough (not to mention the better-than-average school rep it gave him, which was probably why he agreed to date her in the first place), but…

 _She wasn't Rin._

Len made the mistake of letting his eyes wander to Rin (who looked adorable laughing along to Miku), exhaled sharply, and shifted in his seat. Kaito looked at him smugly.

"Don't even say it."

Kaito laughed.

…

"You know, Meiko, I think it'd be great if Rin and Lenny played a duet at their graduation together. On the violins. Len's teacher found the perfect piece for it last night."

Rin and Len looked up from their phones and exchanged a look of worry from across the living room.

Rin's mother smiled at her.

"Rin can go home with you and Len tomorrow after school and they can start."

Rin bit her lip.

"Are you sure? I think that if we just tried out individually it would be fine, really…right, Len?"

She looked at Len, her eyes pleading. _Please say no._

"Actually," he said, his expression making Rin want to slap him, "I think that a duet would be a great idea."

Their moms nodded appreciatively.

"I'll pick her up from your house after dinner, then."

Rin buried her face in her hands.

…

Rin climbed into the backseat of Len's family SUV, her stomach cramping and head hurting after her Trigonometry test duRing last period. She managed a polite greeting to Len's mom before resting her head against the window and attempting to keep her eyes open, but soon fell asleep to the car's pop radio station and Len 's Fortnite sound effects from his phone.

.

When Rin opened her eyes and saw Len poking her nose, looking uncharacteristically timid, her first instinct was to kick him.

So she did.

Len doubled over, face flushing, and Rin's eyes widened before she ran into his house. Once inside, she was coaxed into a game of American Girl Salon by Neru, and was swept away for a decent half hour when Len pushed the door open, stepping into the light pink room and both of their violin cases in hand, looking disgruntled. He motioned for Rin to leave, and she muttered an apology to Neru.

As she and Len made their way to his bedroom, she stopped by the kitchen to rummage in their pantry.

"You have no right…" Len began.

"Please. I practically live here, and you never have an issue with me doing this. You're just pissed because your dick is too sore to toy with."

Len was quiet after that.

.

"No. This measure starts on an up bow, not a down bow."

"Actually, it doesn't, because the note before that is an up bow. If it really _were_ , it would've been marked on the music."

"But it's easier that way! Just try doing that slur on a down bow. Try it."

"I already have. It was _fine_."

Len looked over at her for just a little too long, and Rin shifted uncomfortably. His gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips.

 _Or did it?_

Rin blamed it on her lack of sleep. And, by the way, she didn't like Len. Not in that way.

 _Or do you?_

"Shut up," she murmured to herself, turning her back to Len and starting to put her violin in its case.

"What?"

Rin shook her head, even if he couldn't see it.

"Nothing."

.

Rin shouldered her backpack and opened the front door.

"Bye."

"Bye," Len said. He brought her into an awkward side-hug, and Rin felt her face get hot.

She walked to the car with her face down and sighed when she plopped herself into the passenger seat.

"How did it go?" Mom's smile was knowing.

Rin huffed.

" _I don't like him._ "

Mom gave her a pointed look.

Rin huffed again.

"Fine, I do, okay?" She threw her arms up in the air. "I can't help that he's, like, gorgeous and funny. Just-please don't."

"Plus," she added, "He doesn't even like me back-not even in a _friend_ way."

Mom hummed thoughtfully.

"You two used to be so close."

Rin pressed a hand to her face and groaned.

"But he's just ignoRing you because he doesn't want to admit or acknowledge that you're more than just a childhood friend to him."

" _He has a girlfriend_ , Mom."

"It's fine. Lily was telling me the other day that Len never really felt anything for her in the first place," she said, her eyes mischievous as she glanced at Rin, "And from what I see, it was probably to make you jealous."

" _How_? I'm not _that_ obvious, am I?"

"Not to me."

Rin didn't reply; the rest of the car ride back home was siLent after that.

.

Rin looked down at her-well, not really _her_ -violin case as she walked up the stairs.

"Mom?"

"Mom's in the shower."  
"Oh. Dad. Hi."

"Did you get a lot done at practice?"

"Sure. But I accidentally took Len's violin instead of mine," she said, holding up the case for proof.

"Just switch tomorrow at school, then."

"Today's Friday, Dad."

Dad looked confused.

"I didn't know."

Rin didn't blame him. She didn't know that (until she had looked at her phone a few minutes before) herself.

"We'll figure something out," Dad said after a long pause. "Get some rest in the meantime."

.

Rin didn't get rest. She sat in her bed, fingers tapping away at her keyboard, hair swept into a messy bun, and Miku's voice yapping away from her phone's speakers, and had long forgotten about her instrument dilemma...until she heard frantic knocking on her door before it was pushed open. She leaned forward to see Len, her violin case strapped to his shoulders and weaRing the hoodie that he wore non-stop in middle school. He picked off a piece of (imaginary? real?) lint from his flannel pants and shrugged the case off of his shoulders.

"Here."

Rin raised an eyebrow.

"Len. It's," she stole a glance at the clock. "Past midnight. Why are you here _now_?"

Len bit his lip.

"No reason. It was just bothering me."

Fair enough. Len was almost more obsessed with organization than her mother.

They fell into siLence for a while.

"Oh. You probably want your violin."

"Mhm."

She pushed her duvet off of her legs and mourned for the lost warmth before walking over to Len's violin. After picking it up, she turned around and-

"Holy _fuck,_ Rin!"

"What?"  
"This's the second time in _one day_ , Rin!"

Rin frowned and looked up to see Len doubled over on her bed.

"Sorry?"

Len's face looked menacing.

Her phone buzzed from behind him.

"Rin? Hello?"

Len hung up Rin's call with Miku and stormed out of the room, forgetting what he had come for in the first place.

"Suit yourself," Rin mumbled offhandedly.

.

Ten minutes later, when Rin was back under her covers and Miku on the phone again, Len stepped back into her room (without knocking this time, the bastard).

"I forgot my violin."

"Then get it."

Len ignored her, and Rin said a quick goodbye to Miku before hanging up.

"And," he sighed, "I'm staying the night. Your parents aren't letting me leave because it's 'too late to drive home alone' and Piko wants to hang tomorrow, so. Yeah."

Nothing too out-of-the-blue. Without missing a beat, Rin responded.

"Both guest rooms are being used, though. Piko's on break from college and our cousins..."

"Yeah," Len said quickly, the tips of his ears turning red as his eyes looked her over (though Rin was sure it was just her imagination again), "I'm staying in, uh, your room."

Right then and there, it was almost as if they were twelve again, Len without his playful smirks and sleeping over after hours of pleading, as if they were still attached at the hip and actually really spoke to each other, and Rin bit her lip, a bad habit they both had yet to get rid of.

"It'll be like primary school all over again," she said awkwardly, and Len nodded offhandedly. Rin leaned her head against the headboard and adjusted her shirt.

Wait.

Rin put a hand to her chest and her eyes widened.

"Crap."

…

"Crap."

Len's eyes drifted to where Rin was looking, her eyes frantic and eyebrows creased, and he averted them just as quickly as he had looked. It wasn't anything particula _rly bad,_ per se, but he _was_ a pubescent boy and _was_ in a room with a girl th _at hey, was actually pretty cut_ e and-holy cow-his crush! Amazing!

How _fortunate_.

"Crap indeed," he said under his breath.

He turned his back to her and pretended to check his phone after catching himself looking _there_ again.

Len wasn't exactly sure how he'd survive.

.

Rin was changing in her walk-in closet, and that was both bad and good for Len, because while he did get a nice sight, it was probably for his own sanity that she did, even if she was on the "flatter" side.

However, Len had, again, gotten both lucky and unlucky.

As she stepped onto her bed for what seemed like the fifteenth time within an hour, Rin adjusted the thin strap of her tank and pulled her shorts higher onto her waist.

 _Why?  
_ Attempting to distract himself and hide his thoughts, Len bounced onto the bed next to her (which didn't really help that much, but it was his best bet).

"So, I'm guessing that our sleeping bag arrangements are long gone?"

He gRinned.

Rin looked at him from the corner of her eye and gestured to the rest of her room.

"Where, exactly, would we put them?"

Len shrugged half-heartedly. She was right, but he didn't want to have to share a bed with her.

Well, he did, no denying that, but again, for his own _sanity,_ he couldn't.

He'd try, though, because Rin was a Q-T pie.

.

It had been an hour of Rin and Len doing nothing but sit side-by-side on her bed on their phones, Rin talking to Miku (as usual) and Len frantically texting a smug-sounding Kaito (also not uncommon), and Len turned to Rin.

"I wanna sleep."

She held up a finger at Miku and looked at him.

"No one's stopping you."

"No-I mean, like, sleeping without you giggling every six seconds."

The corner of Rin's lip turned upwards.

"You still sleep with the lights on, don't you?"

"So do you!"  
"I never said it was a bad thing, did I?"

Len pulled the blankets onto him and closed his eyes.

"It would be nice if you _did_ shut up, but goodnight anyways."

"G'night."

Miraculously, Rin did stop chatting after he asked her to.

.

When Len woke up to the light shining through Rin's curtains, she was still snoRing lightly next to him and he chuckled quietly, because like his tendency to sleep with the lights on (which were still that way), he still was the first to wake up out of the pair. Thankfully, it didn't seem like he had done anything terrible while asleep. Len sat up and pulled his shirt over his head, making his way over to the thermostat (he never really understood why Rin's house was always so warm). After turning the temperature down to what he desired, he stole a glance-which wasn't really a glance consideRing how long it was-at Rin before heading downstairs to clear his mind.

.

Len was already on his second bowl of cereal and nodding along to Piko's "college life" stories when Rin seated herself next to him, hair falling out of her loose ponytail and still warm from sleep. She sipped her juice and scrunched up her nose (really adorably, Len might add).

"Gross. Who the heck got orange juice with the _pulp_ still in it?"

Len saw Piko smile from behind his laptop and Rin roll her eyes.

"Wow, Piko, you're _such_ a prankster."

Piko's smile turned into a gRin.

"Whatever," Rin scoffed, reaching for Len's half-eaten banana and taking a bite. Len glared at her, and she shrugged. Len stole her orange juice as payback.

He regretted it, though; pulp-y orange juice reminded him of horse intestines. Piko started to yap on about his roomates again, and Rin slumped her head on his shoulder.

…

After a solid minute of lounging on Len, Rin sat up with an internal yelp and felt her face warm and excused herself to go upstairs, earning herself a confused look from Len and an eyebrow-raise from Piko. Someone must've had a little "bonding time" (also known as: let's-talk-about-Rin-time) with Mom. She would have to talk to him about that later.

Once inside her room, Rin pressed a hand to her forehead. Len was _shirtless_. Shirtless. And she rested on him as if he were a pillow. She brought out her phone and texted Miku.

 _is it wrong that i put my head on Len's bare chest even tho he has a girlfriend_

She didn't bother checking the stRing of texts that followed her message a few seconds later until later that day.

.

"Hey. Look."

Rin glanced at Len's phone in front of her face.

"Oh. Wow. Good job."

"Just a good job? Rin, we were the best out of every single person auditioning and all I get-all _you_ get-is a 'good job'?"

Rin gestured to the area around them.

"I mean, we _did_ just finish a trillion-hour-long tennis practice and I feel like I'm going to have a baby, so I'm not in the mood for anything much more celebratory."

Len walked away, and one of the girls on their team (Kanari? Kandace? Rin stopped trying a while ago) sidled up to her.

"He's cute, isn't he," she asked, pointing at Len, his forehead glistening with sweat and surrounded by what seemed like the whole rest of the team.

"He's taken."

"Oh, I know that already," she giggled, waving a hand at her as if she were a clueless toddler.

"I'm the reason he and Gumi are together, you know."

Rin didn't know.

"That's nice."

It wasn't nice.

"Speaking of matchmaking, I bet that Kai would be over-the-moon if you went to prom with him," she said with a wink.

Kai and his sister (whatever her real name was) had come to their school halfway through the seventh-grade, and duRing that time, they've only ever spoken to each other duRing their advanced math class (where they were kind of forced to do so, consideRing they were both placed with the grade above them and had no one else to talk to)-which, really, was a decent amount, but even then…

 _He wasn't Len._

"Uh."

K-Girl winked and left the tennis courts with Kai.

Rin wanted to leave, too; the heat and sweat made her feel gross. Luckily for her, though, Len's mom had pulled up in her white SUV no more than five minutes later, and she was squished in between Len and Neru for the twenty-five-minute drive ahead. To avoid getting roped into a doll discussion, Rin resorted to small talk with Len.

"So. What's up with prom?"

Too suspicious?

He sighed.

"Going with Gumi. You?"

"You make it sound like it's a chore, going with her."  
"You didn't answer my question."

Rin was siLent.

"Don't know yet?"

"Yeah."

They were both quiet for a moment when Len spoke up again.

"And yes, going with Gumi kind of is like a chore. The only difference is that chores aren't annoying as hel-helium balloons," Len finished, remembeRing that his sister was in the car with him.

So maybe Mom and Miku were partially right-he didn't like everything about Gumi. Rin pushed a little more, taking some of Miku's advice for once (" _Keep the conversation going! And always ask for more, not less"_ ).

"Well...she _is_ your girlfriend, though, right? Like, you still like her so it's okay that's she's annoying?"

Maybe she pushed too much. Oh well.

Len exhaled loudly.

"Sure. Alright."

He looked ticked. Rin got a sympathetic look from his mother.

When she was dropped off at her house, Len didn't even bother to acknowledge her, which actually hurt her a little.

Just a little.

.

"Rin, I promise, promise, promise that Len doesn't even like Gumi. Period. Like, promise-promise."

Rin gave Miku a dull look through her phone's screen and pulled out her hairbrush picking out a few stray strands of blonde hair from the brush absentmindedly.

"No, seriously! Gumi was telling me the other day that she hasn't even gotten a kiss from Len since, like, a month ago! Not even one on the cheek or anything!"

"They've been dating since prom last year, Miku; if he hated her that much, they would've broken it off by now."

"He's doing it for the status quo."

"Len's already popular as is. He doesn't need any boosters."

"He's no more known than you are." Lies. There was a reason that Len never bothered to talk to her anymore; she was too "average" on the school's popularity ladder.  
Miku got another blank stare.

"Fine. Don't listen to me. But don't deny that there's something between you and lover-boy."

"Lover-boy?"

"Uh-huh. You _like_ him. You _have_ liked him."

Rin pulled roughly on a tangle.

"Don't worry, though...you're not obvious. I swear."

"That's what Mom said."

"Mrs. Sakine is always right, so that means that you're not obvious. At all."

"That's good."

"Yeah. Guess what else I found out?"

Rin would never understand how Miku was able to have the time to talk to so many people daily. Then again, her parents weren't exactly as particular about things like grades and extracurriculars as Rin and Len's were…

"What?"

"You probs already kinda know? Kai wants to go to prom with you."

"That's what his sister was telling me today."

"Exactly."

"What?"

"That means that he's one-hundred-percent gonna ask you to prom sometime this week."

"Miku, most people's prom dates asked them out before May Terms even started."

It was true. Almost everyone had found their prom dates weeks before.

"No. Trust me. He _is_."

Rin tied her hair up.

"Okay, Miku."

.

Miku was right. Once Len was swept away by Gumi and her crowd when they entered the high school, Rin making her way to her locker alone, she was stopped by a smiling Kai, his hair tousled from the wind outside and holding two steaming Starbucks (or as she and Len used to call it when they were younger, "Starbies") cups.

"For you," he said, bowing slightly. Rin did nothing as he delicately placed a cup into her hands. She peered inside the cup, which held so much milk that it could barely be considered a cup for coffee. She preferred her coffee black.

"Turn it over," he said, nudging her.

She did. Scrawled in surprisingly neat handwriting was her name, followed by:

 _Prom?_

 _Y N_

 _(circle one)._

She almost laughed because it was so cliche, so overused; the amount of times she had seen it float across her social media...and, absurd as the pro(m)posal had been, and despite the fact that Kai, who she showed no interest in whatsoever, was the one asking her out to prom, it wasn't as if she had anyone else to go with, and, as much as she told herself that it wasn't the case, maybe it would get some of Len's attention.

Maybe.

She hated herself for thinking that way.

"Need a pencil?"

Rin raised an eyebrow at Kai, who looked nervous after that.

"Or you could just say it...that's okay, too…" he trailed off.

Rin didn't bother even looking at him as she shoved her binders and notebooks into her locker.

"Sure, I guess."

She got a hug and a kiss on the cheek and resisted the urge to slap Kai, managing a false-but-hopefully-sweet smile before heading to the English classroom, relieved to have an excuse to walk away from him.

"Let me walk you."

No.

"I think I'm fine."

Kai followed her anyways.

…

"Len," Kaito said, nudging him when he didn't get a response, " _Len_."

" _What_?"

"Look." Kaito gestured to the ground and Gumi tittered. Len groaned as he saw his right pant leg soaked with water.

"What…"

"You were squeezing the bottle."

"I wasn't!"

"Trust me, you were. And you damn well know why."

"No, I don't."

He did.

Gumi's eyes flickered between the two of them, looking confused.

"Yes, you do," Kaito urged, pulling Len closer to him by the sleeve and steering him away from Gumi.

"You heard everything, right?"

"I didn't _want_ to."

"So...do you have any plans to, y'know, stop it?"

"Stop what?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Len knew.

"No. I'm not doing anything."

He couldn't. Besides, if he did, it wasn't as if Rin would want him to.

Kaito shrugged.

"Suit yourself."

…

Rin wasn't "hyped" for prom. She sighed as she stepped into the Kagamines' living room, feet aching from the long hours spent dress shopping from Miku. Neru waved at her from the kitchen counter, her mouth half-full with grapes.

"Was shopping fun?"

"Eh."

"Len felt the same way when I asked him. Weird. He's in his room, by the way."

Weird indeed. Prom had always been one of Len's favorite things.

"Thanks."

Prom was in two days, and Kai had been sending her text after text, flooding her notification screen.

She didn't respond to him as often as she should have. She didn't want to, so why should she have?

Once upstairs, Rin tapped on Len's door twice.

"In the shower," she heard from the bathroom inside.

Rin went inside, putting her violin on the floor and rummaging through his drawers (because why not), stopping as she pulled out one of those Shutterfly albums Len's dad was way too obsessed with making. She almost didn't notice Len peering over her shoulder, hair still damp and smelling like soap.

They had been flipping through the book together, eyes skimming over photos from what seemed to be their joint ninth birthday party, for a good ten minutes when Rin looked up at Len, their faces not more than a couple of inches apart...and for some reason, some force gluing her to her position and stopping her from moving, they stayed like that, and Len was coming closer…

...and then Rin fell out of Len's desk chair, hitting her head against the desk, cursing. She heard Len inhale sharply and leave the room, returning a few minutes later, trailing behind his mother. She felt a cold hand rub the sore spot on her forehead.

"It's fine," Mrs. Kagamine said, expression worried but firm, "You're going to bruise, but it's fine."

"It hurts."

"Postpone practice for a bit, then."

They both opened their mouths to protest-graduation was only two days away, after all (and prom, too, Rin supposed, but she'd rather not think about that)-but Len's mom gave them that _mom_ look and they were quiet. Len left the room in favor of the TV, and Rin stayed on the floor, texting Miku.

Rin had a feeling that she'd want to hear about what happened.

…

Len turned on his gaming console.

"Dude. How bad was it afterwards?"

"Kaito. _Shut up_."

"The sexual tension between you guys is at an all-time high. Like, I dunno if it can get any worse."

"There's only tension if it's two-sided."

"Who said it wasn't, though?"

Len looked at Kaito, who was lounged on the coach behind him.

"I don't even know how you two have prom dates that aren't each other."

Len huffed and traced a pattern in the carpet.

"She hates me, Kaito. _And_ she said yes to Kai. Besides, isn't it a little too late for that now?"

Kaito was quiet.

"You still have a few hours."

"No."

Kaito shrugged.

"You two did amazing at grad. Like, wow."

They _did_ do well, but it seemed like Rin was the one who did most of the playing.

"You've already said that ten times."

"Yeah, but. _Wow_."

Len laughed, something he hadn't, unusual for him as it was, done very much lately.

.

Even though he and Gumi had arrived half an hour late, Len couldn't find Rin. At all. Turns out, she hadn't even come in the first place; according to Miku, Kai got a case of the stomach flu the night before, so Rin was left dateless.

"Why didn't she just come alone? That's what she did every year."

Len was starting to get a little worried, and his head hurt from the strobe light flashing in his eyes.

"Why do you care?" Miku looked slightly annoyed at him and she was yelling over the too-loud music in the background.

"Because. I don't."

He did. A lot.

"Then it doesn't matter to you." Miku started to walk away from him, and he struggled to stop her. Jogging a little to match her pace, he held her by the arm.

"Where is she?"

Alone?

Music blared in his ears, not helping his headache.

"At home. But again, you probably don't care. Besides, don't you have a date to tend to?"

Len ignored her.

"Give me Kaito's car keys."

"What d'you need them for?"

" _Miku_."

"Your _date_ , Len. You chose Gumi over Rin, so why don't you just stay with her?"

She looked more angry than annoyed at this point, turning her attention to her dress.

" _Give me them_."

"You said that you didn't care."

She looked Len in the eyes, and he did, too, both of their gazes unrelenting. Finally, he broke their pathetic excuse of a staring contest and threw his hands in the air.

"Fine! I _do_ care, okay? I just wanna see her. _Please_."

Miku smirked.

"That's better."

She fished around in her purse for what seemed like ages before dropping a set of keys into Len's hand, where they jingled and clanked against each other.

"But now I owe Kaito twenty bucks."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Just _go_."

He did.

.

Len parked Kaito's Lexus onto Rin's U-drive before jogging up the stairs to the front door, ringing her doorbell the way he always did (three times really quickly, for those wondering) and wrung his hands. Why he was nervous, Len wasn't completely sure. His phone chimed from inside of his pocket, most likely from Gumi. He didn't check the notifications and breathed a sigh of relief internally when he saw Rin approaching the door through its glass panes. It swung open, and Rin stared up at Len, not having grown an inch since middle school, hair swept up messily and her sweatpants hanging off of her tiny waist.

He stepped inside, closer to Rin, and swiftly leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers and a putting hand on her waist-in a way so cliche that it belonged in a 2000's high school movie and so out-of-the-blue that it surprised even himself-and almost choking on his own saliva when she did, too, and they stayed that way, kissing next to her open front door as the sun set and their junior prom passed by. Rin pulled away, pink in the cheeks and hair messier than before, and pursed her lips.

"Why aren't you at prom?"

"Why aren't _you_ at prom?"

"I asked you first."

"Mine's more important."  
Rin huffed and led him to the family room, where they sat on chairs opposite each other.

"I didn't wanna go and Kai was sick. That's all."  
"You could've gone alone, you know."

"I didn't _want_ to. I never wanted to. _That's all_ ," she said, looking away.

"Now, answer _my_ question."

Len looked away, too and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Because," he shifted in his seat.

"I wanted to make sure that you weren't dying or anything like that."  
"How kind." Although her tone was sarcastic, he had a feeling she wasn't just joking around either.

"Wait," she said, eyes widening.

"Gumi. What about her?"  
Len grinned sheepishly.

"Did you _leave_ her?"

Len looked at the floor.

"Please tell me that you at least told her that you were leaving."

Len shrugged.

"I had more important things to think about."

"Like what, exactly?"

Len coughed.

"You," he mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"You," he said, louder this time but not enough so that Rin could hear him.

"Speak louder."

" _You,_ okay? It bothered me that you weren't there." The second part was said more quietly.

Rin gave him a look.

"But _why_? You had your girlfriend and huge posse of friends to be with, and even then, you don't even _like_ me, so why would you put in the effort and leave prom to, what, check up on me as if I'm some sort of child? Someone Neru's age?"

He huffed exasperatedly.

" _I love you,_ Rin, and you know that...we've literally gone through everything together; how could I dislike you?"

Rin's lip trembled and she started to cry. Hard.

" _Damn you, periods!_ "

"Crap," Len said, checking the date on his phone. "Periods."

He squeezed onto the sofa next to her.

"What would _you_ know about them?"

"I was literally there when you got yours for the first time, don't you remember? Also, I think that I've been with you long enough to know your cycle."

She ignored him and hit the armrest.

"Don't lie to me, Len. You have a girlfriend."

"Gumi is the biggest bitch I've ever met. Do you even know how it felt, watching Kai literally follow you around everywhere you went? Hugged you? Talked about you to the rest of us like you were _his_?"

Rin pointed an accusing finger at him, eyes threatening.

"And that was only for a week! You don't realize how bad it was for _me_ , seeing you with that grass-haired slut for a whole entire year, do you? Or how, for some reason, you just stopped talking to me after eighth grade graduation? But you probably didn't notice, not really, that I wasn't there anymore, because of those ma-"

Len put a finger to his lips.

"Maybe I can get Kaito to tell you what I've suffered through because of you since you don't believe me, if that's what interests you. And Rin?"

"I'm listening." She had already calmed down a little in the past few seconds, which puzzled Len.

"Do you seriously think that I would bother leaving prom, ditch my date, steal someone's car, and kiss you out of nowhere if I really hated you that much? Do you think that I would purposely allow our parents to make us do a duet together, or willingly stay the night here for no real reason? The answer is no, by the way; I wouldn't, haven't done any of those things for anyone I've ever dated or been friends with, not ever. Got that?"

Rin nodded.

"And," he continued, "You did kiss back, so I guess that it's not only one-sided?"

 _Please say yes._

"My twelve-year-old self would have nutted."

"Is that a yes?"  
"I suppose so."

She avoided his eyes.

"And I love you, too, you know," she mumbled.

Len's eyes lit up.

" _Aw_ , Rinny."

Rin glared at him.

"Sorry."

"Better be. That name was retired before middle school."

Len put his arm around her, the cushion underneath them sagging.

"You did amazingly at graduation, you know."

"Did I?"

She was smiling and damn well knew that she did well, and, once again, Len was leaning in out of instinct and Rin was too and they were kissing _again_ and it was kind of magical and-

" _Finally_!"

Len jumped and fell off of the chair that was too small to hold the both of them comfortably.

" _Mom!_ "

Rin's cheeks were red.

"Hi Mr-Mrs. Sakine," Len stammered. Was it bad that she saw him kissing her only daughter? Maybe. Would Piko punch him if he found out, too, just like all those other brothers in books and TV shows? Maybe. He was frozen on his place on the chilly wooden floor.

Mrs. Sakine was grinning and biting her lip, and she turned her back to them while opening the fridge in the kitchen.

"You two can resume. I'm not looking." She covered her eyes with her hand, still smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Sa-"

She turned around, and her grin had calmed to a small smirk.

"Why are you _apologizing_? If anything, you should be saying 'You're welcome, Mrs. Sakine!'"

Len blinked twice.

"Do you know how long I waited for this? How long _your mom_ and I have been waiting for this?"

Len exchanged a look with Rin.

"Years, Lenny. _Years_."

She looked back at them and shut the fridge.

"I'll be in my room. Call me if you need anything."

Len heard the master bedroom's door shut from far down the hall and sighed.

"That was…"

"Weird?"

"Yeah."

"Did you know that Miku and Kaito betted on us?"

"I'm not surprised, but…"

Their lips met again, but it was short and not as good as the rest because they were both so paranoid (thanks, Mrs. Sakine), and afterwards, when Len was back on the tiny chair with Rin again, they stayed like that and it might've been awkward if it was with Gumi but it wasn't and it felt right and _normal_ and it was good, really good, because why wouldn't it when you got to cuddle with the girl of your dreams?


End file.
